TUAOA: Our Purpose
by Maxpaynner
Summary: When Naruto comes back he is much stronger than before and has gotten to know the Demon Lord much better. When he finds Hinata, he's surprised at how well she matured and gets to know her. But they are Shinobi and Tsunade has plans for the both of them.
1. Author's Note and Disclaimer

In that warm night the lights of Konoha flickered in the distance. It was a beautiful sight: the village nested between it's walls, in front of the Hokage Monument. You could see distinct lights in the various guard towers placed along the wall, and some slowly moving along it. The lights were still on in the Hokage Tower.

_Maybe Grandma Tsunade is working late today.

* * *

_

One of the guards patrolling the Konoha wall stared into the night, looking for any signs of suspicious behavior, when his eyes locked on a redish-orange glow, on a hill overlooking Konoha, maybe 6 miles away. _A ghost? I should really cut back on the sake before guard duty, _thought the guard to himself, before resuming his patrol.

* * *

On that same hill, stood Naruto. Those who knew him before his three-year long training mission would have trouble recognizing him now, if not for his blond hair, blue eyes and whisker marks.

He was covered in the Fox's mantle, one lone spectral tail waving lazily behind him. Since before his training trip he had grown a lot, he was now, by all standards a tall man, with the well toned, yet agile physique of a tiger.. or a fox. His spiky blond hair was so long now it hung several inches below his shoulder line, somewhat held in place by the Konoha headband he was sporting.

His taste in clothes had also changed, he now wore standard issue black sandals and jumpsuit under a standard issue green vest, on top of which he used a black robe, with the kanji for strength printed in red on the back. Over the robe he had two katanas strapped to his back and a small bag hanging over his right shoulder.

His eyes were red and slitted, and his whisker marks were dark and pronounced, his claws and canines were extended, yet his face was calm, as he quietly admired the village where he had gown up.

_It's nice to be back, I've missed this place._

_**"They really did a good job rebuilding it, I clearly remember slamming my paw down in that section over there."**_

_"Shut up you stupid fox! Go back to sleep!"_ - as those words sounded in his mind, his serious face suddenly turned into a trademark grin, slightly amused by the fox's sense of humor.

_**"It's not my fault I'm bored, Human."**_

_"Don't you human me! Damn I must have been a horrible person in an earlier life to have a sadistic annoying demon fox stuck in my head!"_

_**"And it's not my fault that monk released the seal, believe me I was happy.. Scratch that, happiER without human feelings pouring into me."**_

_"You're right.. But I'm happy he did. I know I'm always calling you stupid but I find you funny and it's nice to have someone to talk to."_

_**"Awww.. if I had tear ducts I would be crying right now."**__, the fox joked as he faked sobbing noises._

_"Joke all you want but you still mean a lot to me.. Even tough you're a fur-ball demon.. Should we get going?"_

_**"Yes, we should. Jiraya must be busy with his 'research' and you still have to unpack."**_

_"I hope he gets busted.."

* * *

_

As Naruto's words still ringed in his mind, he darted on his four limbs at break neck speed towards Konoha, closing the distance between him and the village in just a couple of seconds.

Now the guard was standing vigilant in one of the towers, casually chatting with his fellow shinobi.

"So, she made you sleep on the couch?"

"Yeah, women are crazy, but pregnant women are a whole different kind of crazy!"

The guard could have sworn he saw a red haze flying over the wall into Konoha.

"Did you see that?"

"See what?"

The guard looked around for something, anything that could have caught his attention.. But, whatever it was, it was long gone, if it was there to begin with.

"I should REALLY cut back on the sake."

"You've been drinking on duty?"

"I said that out loud?"

* * *

I am aware that this prologue is doubled. I've reached the conclusion people sometimes loose interest by finding only an AN on the first page.

Author's Note and Disclaimer

This is the first fanfic I have ever written, so I really appreciate honest reviews, but please bear with my noobishness.

I do not own the Naruto series. I just like the whole idea of the Naruto Universe and the characters themselves, because they have a huge amount of potential, yet I believe that the guy that does own Naruto is doing a horrible job developing them, by hiding or attenuating certain elements that any Human being has or should have to be considered an individual, as such, in this fic I will do my own character development: characters won't stay the same forever, and the emotional and physical changes seen in the time-skip will be greatly accentuated, mainly in Naruto, you will soon see why.

Now that we've cleared that up, this fic is rated M for content, which means that either you approach it with a grown up mentality or you're better off not reading it. I must say that I'm rather open-minded about sex, and not so big on religion, so expect lemons and maybe pre-marital sex. I don't know what is FF's current position on lemons and couldn't care less. If I want to include them, I will, it s my choice and I will do so at my own discretion as an author.

This is NaruHina, and any Hinata bashers: don't bother sending me messages or reviewing my fic with anything resembling this: "OMG HINATA SUX SO MUCH SKURra IS WAAAAAY BETTER OMGLOL!1!1! 1337". I'm not in any way a Sakura hater(okay, maybe just a little bit), but I do hate it when I see reviews like these. Instead of writing this shit, grow up.

This fic starts right after Naruto's return from his training mission with Jiraya. Hope ya'll enjoy it.

* * *

Update, 25/11/10

I've been taking a little time away from fanfiction, not because I chose so, but because I must. I started classes this school-year for a master's degree in electric, electronic and computer engineering, and it's really hard work. I've been spending most of my free time at the University rather than at home, and I rarely have time to write. I really do try, but the only times that I have free to write are weekends, and even then I sometimes just can't (for example, this weekend is a no go, big programming test on Monday). Even then, shit's hard because I can't be creative under pressure, and when I'm in a position where I have a limited timeslot when I must get a lot of writing done to have things out on time, ideas just don't flow, and I'd rather not do any job at all than do a crappy job.  
For example, I only had time to write this cause I blew off some of my classmates tomorrow morning, we were supposed to study some algebra. It's 2am over here by the way.  
My beta also hasn't been answering me, and she still hasn't sent me back a chapter I sent her more than a month ago. I bet she's busy with RL stuff too, and I can't (or rather won't) pressure her into betaing for me when she doesn't have the free time. Unfortunately that makes my job twice as hard and the final product half as good.  
These are dark times for fanfiction, and I ask for your comprehension. Take solace in the fact that I won't let this fic die.

Bai guise, fistbumps for the dudes and kisses for the dudettes.

Update, 24/09/10

So here guys, see that place right up there where I say that you have to be open minded about my fic, or not read it? And now that little spot where I say that I don't want to see any Hinata bashers reviewing my fic with illiterate crap? Now I'm gonna add another clause: don't flame me. Kay? Cause you see, I got this review a few days ago, and I thought I should expose it here for everyone to see:

xXLichKingXx _wrote:_

_For someone who flames as hard as you do, this story is hardly anything worth reading. Aren't there enough uber kyuubi completely ooc naru/hina stories around here? It's like a five year old tried to make himself naruto then proceed to change him in a way that he can jerk it to later on. If this is your style then I apologize, I just expected that someone who talked so much shit over other people's stories might be capable of writing something a little better. _

My response:

_Dude, yes there are enough stories around there, but I'm gonna use this one to put my own twist on it. Only two chapters have been released, don't you think you're being a bit hasty by saying that without even reading more? This is gonna be a big fic, the first 12 or so chapters will be an introduction arc. So.. you haven't even read any plot development._  
_And as for flaming.. I don't flame. Flaming is telling someone their story sucks, without adding anything else, or pointing out what's wrong with it.. much like you're doing right now, yes my friend, you are trying to flame me (and failing miserably might I add)._  
_When I add long reviews I don't flame, I add constructive critiques, I point out what I think is wrong, and add suggestions how to fix it. The responses I get from the authors actually THANKING me for my reviews are a testament to that._  
_So, if you want to add a constructive review, and point out what exactly is wrong with my fic, well then, thank you very much, if you'll just be a baby about it and insult other people's work without even saying why (and no, "It's like a five year old tried to make himself naruto then proceed to change him in a way that he can jerk it to later on.", ISN'T a valid argument) I'll leave you with these few words:_

_Haters._  
_Gonna Hate._

Well, a quick trip to his profile shows that he is a 20 year-old American college student, who, based on his nick is a wow freak. Okay, everything checks out up to here but.. I kept on reading. And.. wanna guess? Yes my friends, he's a NaruHina hater.  
Now, I don't care if he's a NaruHina hater, it's a free country (well, free internet), the problem is that he, as a 20 year old college student, is damn old enough to know he shouldn't judge other's people work based on his own preconceptions, that's, literally for 5 year old children to do.

Now, I _know_ that America's school system sucks, like, epically sucks. Don't get me wrong, I love America, but you've gotta admit it, education over there is.. problematic at best. I just wanted to say that I actually had a phylosophy class in high school that teached people to think without prejudice, and that over here people like our friend are sweeping the streets instead of being at college living off the taxpayer's/parents.

Now that I've got this out of the way, even though American education sucks, there are lots of outstanding people coming from it, one example is my beta, and many others feature amongst my American readers.

tl;dr: Please review my story, but don't fucking flame me. You are free to insult me, or my work (seriously, go ahead), I won't mind, as long as you give proper and valid _reasons and arguments_.

For point two:

I just wanted to tell you all that I actually send responses to my reviewers. I can't send one to everyone. So if you write something like "Awesome." You probably won't get a response. On the other hand I insist on personally thanking everyone who critiques my work, so, if you write something like:

"The plot is (...), the grammar is (...),

(...)"

I will send a response, even if it's just a simple "thank you".

So.. that's it for today people. Holla at ya l8tr. Go read the new chapter. ^_^


	2. Prologue

Prologue

In that warm night the lights of Konoha flickered in the distance. It was a beautiful sight: the village nested between it's walls, in front of the Hokage Monument. You could see distinct lights in the various guard towers placed along the wall, and some slowly moving along it. The lights were still on in the Hokage Tower.

_Maybe Grandma Tsunade is working late today.

* * *

_

One of the guards patrolling the Konoha wall stared into the night, looking for any signs of suspicious behavior, when his eyes locked on a redish-orange glow, on a hill overlooking Konoha, maybe 6 miles away. _A ghost? I should really cut back on the sake before guard duty, _thought the guard to himself, before resuming his patrol.

* * *

On that same hill, stood Naruto. Those who knew him before his three-year long training mission would have trouble recognizing him now, if not for his blond hair, blue eyes and whisker marks.

He was covered in the Fox's mantle, one lone spectral tail waving lazily behind him. Since before his training trip he had grown a lot, he was now, by all standards a tall man, with the well toned, yet agile physique of a tiger.. or a fox. His spiky blond hair was so long now it hung several inches below his shoulder line, somewhat held in place by the Konoha headband he was sporting.

His taste in clothes had also changed, he now wore standard issue black sandals and jumpsuit under a standard issue green vest, on top of which he used a black robe, with the kanji for strength printed in red on the back. Over the robe he had two katanas strapped to his back and a small bag hanging over his right shoulder.

His eyes were red and slitted, and his whisker marks were dark and pronounced, his claws and canines were extended, yet his face was calm, as he quietly admired the village where he had gown up.

_It's nice to be back, I've missed this place._

_**"They really did a good job rebuilding it, I clearly remember slamming my paw down in that section over there."**_

_"Shut up you stupid fox! Go back to sleep!"_ - as those words sounded in his mind, his serious face suddenly turned into a trademark grin, slightly amused by the fox's sense of humor.

_**"It's not my fault I'm bored, Human."**_

_"Don't you human me! Damn I must have been a horrible person in an earlier life to have a sadistic annoying demon fox stuck in my head!"_

_**"And it's not my fault that monk released the seal, believe me I was happy.. Scratch that, happiER without human feelings pouring into me."**_

_"You're right.. But I'm happy he did. I know I'm always calling you stupid but I find you funny and it's nice to have someone to talk to."_

_**"Awww.. if I had tear ducts I would be crying right now."**__, the fox joked as he faked sobbing noises._

_"Joke all you want but you still mean a lot to me.. Even tough you're a fur-ball demon.. Should we get going?"_

_**"Yes, we should. Jiraya must be busy with his 'research' and you still have to unpack."**_

_"I hope he gets busted.."

* * *

_

As Naruto's words still ringed in his mind, he darted on his four limbs at break neck speed towards Konoha, closing the distance between him and the village in just a couple of seconds.

Now the guard was standing vigilant in one of the towers, casually chatting with his fellow shinobi.

"So, she made you sleep on the couch?"

"Yeah, women are crazy, but pregnant women are a whole different kind of crazy!"

The guard could have sworn he saw a red haze flying over the wall into Konoha.

"Did you see that?"

"See what?"

The guard looked around for something, anything that could have caught his attention.. But, whatever it was, it was long gone, if it was there to begin with.

"I should REALLY cut back on the sake."

"You've been drinking on duty?"

"I said that out loud?"

* * *

Author's Note:

Hey guise. Well, I hope you enjoyed that short prologue, chapter one will be a bit short too, but the following will be a lot bigger. I won't seriously update until I have everything up to chapter 7ish written, spellchecked and edited. I have everything written up to chapter five.  
If you want to read everything now, well, me so solly, but you're not getting anything more than this for a bit. =3


	3. Chapter 1

Naruto dispelled the mantle as he stood in front of his appartment's door, his features returning to normal.

His appartment had been vandalized...Again. Graffitti was painted on the wall and on his door; someone had tried to wash it off, but the words"Demon" could still be read clearly. His door had several marks that indicated that it had been broken into various times, and repaired. The wood was visibly cracked along the most fragile points, mainy around the lock.

_God,what have I done to deserve this?_

_**"Nothing, little one, nothing. The people of this village do these things because they think you're me. And now they're kind of right."**_

_"I know...I mean, this has happened to me so many times that I should have gotten used to it, but it still hurts that they don't even treat me like another human being."_

_**"Someday you'll show them you are more of a human than them. Meanwile, remember that you have some of my personality, so don't let your anger get to you**__." _While the fox talked, Naruto unlocked and opened the door, putting his bag down on the floor.

_Wow, this place is filthy! Guess that's what three years worth of dust looks like. _

_"They've treated me like crap all my life and I've never hurt them, even tough I could. Why do you think that just because I've inherited your personality I'll suddenly start taking vengeance?"_

_**"You underestimate me little one, go and take a look in the mirror."**_

Naruto made his way to the bathroom. Turning on the light, he looked in the mirror; but all he saw was a big blur. That's what dust and grime will do to you. He grabbed a faded towel and wiped off most of the mirror with it. As he looked at himself' he saw his eyes were glowing red and he was snarling a bit.

_**"You have to be more careful with your emotions...we wouldn't want you going on a killing spree, now would we?"**_

_"Shut up, furball."_

Naruto opened the tap and splashed water all over his face. When he looked in the mirror, his eyes were their normal sky blue again.

_"It's not like it's the first time this has happened."_

_**"No, but it is the first time it's happened because of something so small. We are one. You don't need your emotions to wake me up anymore, so I suggest that you try to control them before something gets...out of hand."**_

_"You're right.. Again."_

_**"Thank the all-knowing demon fox now."**_

_"Aww, do I have to?"_

_**"Yes, kit."**_

_"Thank you."_

_**"Thank you, what?"**_

_"Kyuubi-sama."_

_**"Now, that wasn't that hard, was it?"**_

_"I'll get you back for this, fox. Meanwile, I don't feel like sleeping."_

Naruto went into the kitchen and opened the refridgerator.

_**"Ack! What died in there? I swear, if it weren't for the fact that I haven't eaten in more than fifteen years, I would be vommiting right now."**_

_"..and now I'm not hungry either.. Hey, I thought that demons didn't have to eat!"_Naruto closed the refridgerator door.

_**"And we don't, but that doesn't mean we don't like to."**_Naruto sighed.

_"The TV was broken before we went with Ero-Sennin. Hey, what if we took a stroll around town?"_

_**"It's your body."**_

_"You could try to be a bit more happy about it."_

Naruto stepped out of his window, as he felt the familiar tickeling as the fox's shroud covered him, and his body changed. Since they became one, it didn't hurt anymore.

A couple of roof tiles went flying, ripped off by the sheer force of his feet as Naruto darted off into the distance; jumping from rooftop to rooftop faster than the average eye could see.

* * *

Jiraya and Tsunade stood across from each other in her office. Her desk was covered in papers, and now a new adition, a bowl with candy. Shizune felt that the candy portrayed her like a more compationate person instead of the usual _"If you look at me the wrong way I'm going to put you through that wall over there!", _but all it had accomplished until now was make Tsunade gain weight.

"So, Jiraya...what happened after you and Naruto left the Land of Woods?" She asked, sucking on a generic hard candy.

"Well, Hime, we had to stay low for a while..."

"...Because?" Tsunade's voice grew suspicious.

"Because the villagers who caught me spying on the baths while the princess was there called the royal guard..." Jiraya muttered, afraid of what would come next.

"BAKA!" Tsunade added a new lump to the already impressive collection Jiraya had on his head. "You put my gaki in danger because you can't control your impulses! Damm you, you pervert!"

" Ow, Tsunade-hime, that hurt! Besides, I prayed that wouldn't catch on! Naruto is ruining my reputation.."

_You're calm...Think calming, soothing ocean noises. Seaguls, yes, you like seaguls..__Thought Tsunade to herself._ "Okay.. After that what happened?"

"We found an old friend of mine, a monk, called Sayadaw, very very talented with seals. Anyhow I told him the whole story about Naruto; he was impressed, to say the least, and it's worth mentioning that he's the most die-hard hide-your-emotions kind of monk if there ever was one."

"Continue."

"Well, the monk was a sage like me, and was going back to mount Myobuko to get reaquainted with our ways. I took them both there and left Naruto to train with him and Fukasaku."

"And what were YOU doing while my gaki was training, Jiraya?" Interrupted Tsunade as she started to loose her temper yet again.

Jiraya looked down towards his lap and mutered something. When he was finished his eyes darted up, but not the full way up.

"My eyes are up here idiot, don't make me bash your head in. WHAT were YOU doing?"

"Research! Ah, wait...I meant Toad Sage stuff! Yeah, that's right, Toad Sage stuff!"

"So what you're saying...Is that you left my gaki, the Jinchurriki of the most powerful demon the world has ever seen, and one of the densest, most innocent shinobi that this village has ever produced..." As Tsunade's speech went on, Jiraya slowly tried to make himself as small as possible, awaiting the knuckle sandwich that was to come,"...training with a very powerful monk who, and follow me on this, you hadn't seen in_ years_..." Tsunade got up and made her way towards Jiraya, "..HOPING that he would train him, calously ignoring that since he was a master in Fuiinjutsu, he might as well want to experiment with Naruto's seal..." Tsunade slowly bent down over the toad sage, who sank even further down his chair, almost with his head resting on the seat, "...at the very least, killing him, and at the very worst, releasing upon the land one of the greatest evils that mankind has ever known, while _you_, his _guardian_ and _godfather_, were peeping at naked ladies? Did I get everything straight?"

Jiraya squeaked a small "Yes."

"Alright, that's what I wanted to know!"- said a cheery Tsunade with a smile on her face, veins still throbing on her forehead.

Jiraya with a look of surprise stamped on his face, sat correctly again. "It wasn't that bad, Fukasaku was there. Um - Aren't you going to hit me?"

"Why would I?" Forehead vein still throbbing, "All's well that ends well! Naruto got some training done and the seal wasn't altered!"

"Well, actually..."

* * *

Naruto had been watching the conversation from the roof of a buiding not far away. His enhanced fox senses were very handy in that kind of situation

And suddenly he saw Jiraya flying trough one of the walls.

After the loud bang from his skull impacting with the ground, they both said:

_"I bet he groped her." _/ _**"I bet he groped her."

* * *

**_Author's Note:

So guise here is Chapter 1 of my fic. Still a bit short but chapters are going to start increasing in size from now on. Please review and spread the story to your friends. I can has lotz n lotz of viwz?

Special thanks mainly to mah awesome beta, Tempestuous Caeli, and also to the band Rise Against for inspiring me while I wrote this.


	4. Chapter 2

"Eight Trigrams, Sixty-Four Palms!"

The screams from the Hyuuga heiress could be heard well into the night.

"First!"

The post in front of her received two devastating blows.

"Second!"

The sounds of powerful blows impacting wood sounded through the training grounds.

"Third!"

Splinters flew off from the back of the pole.

"Fourth!"

The front of the pole was starting to get visibly damaged.

"Fifth!"

Her hands achieved great speed as she poured more and more chakra into the attack.

"Sixth!"

The pole in front of her, as thick as a large oak tree, started to buckle as her hands riped pieces of wood from it at great speed.

Finished with her attack ,she stood there; Byakugan activated, in the Gentle Fist stance, her eyes fixed on her inanimate opponent. She didn't even move a muscle for two whole seconds, until the very loud sounds of wood cracking could be heard and the tall, thick and rugged pole that had stood there for years now, taking all sorts of abuse from shinobi of all ages, fell to the ground with a loud bang.

Suddenly, she fell to her knees, panting heavily. Her body was gleaming with sweat, except for the places were her skin was obscured with dirt. Her shirt was wet in all the wrong places, and all her clothes were torn here and there. This, she felt, was very unlady-like; but, after all, she was first and foremost a kunoichi and a lady only when required (be it either by her clan, or by the dress code of some random village gathering her friends or teammates decided to attend).

Now, in the same position, breathing regularly, she sighed.

_He would be proud of me...wherever he is._

She got up again to resume another one of her night training sessions when she heard a loud bang from the center of the village. As she turned around, she saw a plume of dust rising from the Hokage tower and light seeping from a new hole in Tsunade-sama's office.

_Not again.._

If you were to ask Hinata Hyuuga then and there, she would tell you with utmost certainty that at least ten percent of the village's gross revenue were spent entirely on repairing holes in the Hokage tower.

Sighing, she jumped in the air as she drew shuriken from her pouch and started target practice.

* * *

Shizune ran as fast as she could, pushing the heavy doors to the Hokage's office at the exact same moment that two ANBU operatives appeared from thin air at her sides. When the door opened completely, they saw a not-so-uncommon scene, but yet, one that hadn't been seen in three years: Tsunade standing in the middle of the room, legs slightly spread out, her right hand clenched in a fist by her side with slightly red knuckles, staring with fury in her eyes at the Jiraya shaped hole in the concrete wall.

Shizune let out a sigh of relief and slight annoyance.

"False alarm guys...again." she said addressing the ANBUs. "You can go now, thanks.", she said with a flick of her wrist.

"WAIT!" screamed Tsunade. Shizune could have sworn she saw the two battle hardened Back Ops men flinching. "Bring him up again, I'm not finished."

All three stood there staring wide-eyed at the Hokage, but to her, only Shizune was oblivious to the expressions of the mask wearing ANBUs.

"...with the debriefing!" all three showed signs of relief as Tsunade smiled awkwardly.

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" the two ANBU disappeared as Shizune crossed her arms and tapped her foot, staring at Tsunade.

"What? You know I have a hard time controlling my temper!"

"I'm getting you in some anger management classes."

"Like hell you are!"

* * *

_"Ouch, that must've hurt like a bitch!"_

**_"He's going to feel THAT in the morning!"_**

Naruto and the fox contemplated the scene as two ANBU's appeared at the foot of the tower and picked up a very hurt, and very unconscious Jiraya, and carried him back to where he would meet his doom for the second time that night.

After a lengthy pause, one of them finally spoke up.

**_"Hey, kid.. Can I ask you something?"_**

_"Of course Kyu, what do you want to know?"_

**_"Why do you love these people, this village, why do you protect them when they've always treated you like trash?"_**

Naruto sighed as he thought about the fox's question. It was a very personal one; if anyone else had asked him this he would have most likely dodged the subject, but this was his closest and best friend, he trusted him completely. And besides, he already knew the answer, he just wanted to hear it from him.

_"Well.. Most of them are close minded little cunts indeed, but some.."_Naruto though about his former teammates, Ino, Shikamaru, Neji, Lee, Kiba, Hinata, and all the others._".. some, are my friends, you know? And this village, it's inhabitants...they're all connected, if one hurts, all of them hurt. And I can't let my friends suffer."_

**_"If it's all connected, why did no one suffer with you?"_**

_"Because I'm special.."Said Naruto with a sad smile on his face._

**_"That you are kid, that you are. And you're very noble too: I would have just destroyed this village...No pun intended."_**

Naruto chuckled._"Yeah, but don't think I'll still put up with all that they did to me back then. If anyone insults me or doesn't give me the respect I deserve, I'll gore their guts out, I don't care who it is."_

**_"Ahh, you see what I was warning you about back in the apartment?"_**The Kyuubi no Yoko let out a very strong laugh, which if it were to be heard by someone other than Naruto, would sound more like a growl.**"I've really rubbed off on you!"**

_"You think? I thought that you'd noticed that I'm covered in the shroud almost all the time! Hey remember that one time I tried to take a shower without remembering to dispel it?"_

**_"HAHA! It was precious! You were dumbstruck when you noticed that the soap wouldn't reach your skin!"_**

_"Yeah and you waited a whole hour before telling me what was going on, you sly fox! The water was freezing cold by then, too...Haha, traveling with Ero-Sennin sure had it's moments!"_

Naruto watched as he saw the ANBU's finally getting the very heavy toad sage to the Hokage's office, and slowly lowered him to the floor while Shizune screamed at Grandma Tsunade.

_"Hmm.. Well Kyu, let's get out of here, I'm getting bored with this place and I don't want to spend the whole night watching that perv getting hit in the head."_

**_"Hmm, you could pratice your chakra control, you're at an extremely high level compared to the one you were in right before we fused, but a bit more wouldn't hurt."_**

_"To the training grounds it is, then."

* * *

_

"Tsunade-sama! You've really done it this time, he's worse than I thought!" commented Shizune on what lay before her: an unconscious Jiraya was struggling to breathe, his left cheek was swelling to the size of a tennis ball, and he was bleeding out of his ears.

"Oh, don't exaggerate. It's not as bad as it looks!"

"Not as bad? He's_ bleeding _out of his _ears_! Healthy people don't_ bleed _out of their _ears_!" Shizune screeched while gesturing franticly towards Jiraya's blood covered head.

"Don't be a baby, Shizune!" Tsunade said while she approached Jiraya laying on the floor. "You're both dismissed." muttered Tsunade to the two stoic ANBU who had been silently watching the whole thing, and they vanished in a puff of smoke. "He's not a regular ninja, Shizune! He's a Sannin! And on top of that, he's a Sage! Most regular shinobi would have died after a blow like this but this is a walk in the park for him. He'll be up and groping me in less than half an hour!" as she said this, she bent over Jiraya and started healing him with a jutsu, her hands glowing green.

"How do you know that? Someday he might not wake up Tsunade-sama!" Shizune was genuinely worried about Jiraya's fate. Ever the years he had become a friend and mentor, alike to Tsunade herself, yet, she feared more for her, for Tunade. She knew what Jiraya's death would do to her, after loosing her teammate, her brother, her lover.. Yes, after loosing so much in life, this would definitely destroy her._Tsunade-sama, you should value him more._

"I've been his teammate since my genin days. I know his limits almost as well as I know my own.. and I've sent him to hell and back. Believe me, he's been in far worse shape thanks to me." As she finished her sentence, Jiraya started waking up and unconsciously his hand reached out for support.

"...Huh...? Di-did anyone manage to get the license plate?" Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you looked at it), his hand was nearing one of Tsunade's large breasts.

"See? What did I tell you Shizune? He's going to be fi-" both of the women in the room froze as Jiraya's hand made contact. Shizune blushed violently and her eyes opened wide in shock and terror of what was to come. Tsunade's cheeks turned a slight pink color as she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, trying desperately to control her anger. To add fuel to the flames, Jiraya finally opened his eyes and gulped as he became very aware of his current "predicament", but didn't try to correct it. After what must've been the most tense ten seconds in Shizune and Jiraya's lives, Tsunade gently grabbed his hand and took it off her chest, finally making her way to her desk and sitting down.

"Shall we continue from where we left off, or are you two just going to stand there looking at me?"

Finally, they both let out sighs of relief.

* * *

Naruto now stood at the very top of the tallest tree in the area. His red eyes stared into the night, back to the full moon in the sky, same chakra tail waving behind him, filtering some of the moonlight. His shadow spread over the tree tops as he looked at the partially destroyed training grounds.

That's when his fox companion read his thoughts.

**_"She's a beauty.."_**

_"Yes, that she is, that she is.."_His jaw was slightly dropped as he admired her hourglass shape, the smooth curves that defined her figure, her long waving hair as she jumped from target to target in flexible and fluid movements.. Even the sweat and dirt on her, obscuring her perfect milky skin appealed to his animalistic side, yet she was turned away from him, he couldn't see her face.

* * *

Hinata jumped, twisted and backflipped as she threw kunai and shuriken hitting multiple targets, dead center in each one. Her aim had improved drastically since the chunin exams: back then she almost couldn't hit the broad side of a horse, now, using her kekkai genkai to perfect her aim, she was a master of accuracy and precision. All she lacked now was power, and she was slowly (but surely) working on that.

Her kekkai genkai, the Byakugan, is a wondrous thing to have: it can allow it's user to see far into the distance with a normal field of view _or_ provide a near 360 degree view. She could use both modes at once, but with a much shorter distance range. Hinata was currently using the 360º view for two reasons: because she didn't need to focus on anything far away, the 360° view was much more useful since she could be aware of all that happened within the training grounds...which brings us to reason number two: she had to watch out for possible dangers to herself, even though she was within the most powerful shinobi village within the known world. After all, she was a Hyuuga (and the heiress nonetheless), if anything were to happen to her while she was on one of her night training sessions, which her father vehemently voiced his dislike of, she would never hear the end of it.

After she had hit all the targets she, turned around to look at the full moon, taking a break from training. With just the 360° degree view, all she saw past the training grounds was fuzzy and blurry, yet, the blurred light emanating from the moon seemed to calm her. But her calm didn't last very long, she felt watched. For a few moments she stood still, poking and prodding forward into the forest with her kekkai genkai trying to find the cause of her disturbance, but after a while she thought nothing of it and turned her back on the moon, walking towards where she had put down her backpack.

* * *

Naruto was completely still, admiring her. He didn't move a muscle, he didn't even breathe. The only movement emanating from him was his spectral tail. She was great with ninja weapons; she hadn't missed a single target.

_Just who is she?...I've never seen a more beautiful or talented kunoichi in my whole life._

And then, when he thought he couldn't be more interested in what she had to offer...she turned around, looking straight at him. It was then that he realized: those lips, that face, that small cute nose, and especially those pools of a pale blue that were her eyes that either could give the most sweet, comforting, passionate looks he had ever seen or become threatening for her enemies.

_"Hinata-chan?"_

**_"Hinata? What do you mean? Wasn't that the small girl with the jackass cousin from the exam?"_**

_"Yeah, I'm sure of it, I'd recognize those eyes anywhere."_

**_"Well, she's.. matured, rather nicely."_**

_"Shut up, you pervert fox! Sheesh, she's my friend, not a piece of meat!"_Yes, because if she were a piece of meat, Naruto was sure he would be gnawing on it right now.

**_"Well what are you waiting for? Go, go, go!"_**

Suddenly something startled Hinata, she scanned the area around Naruto. At first he flinched a bit; for her, the chackra his shroud was giving off would be like a beacon shining through the night, but then he remembered what he had learned with ero-sennin about the Byakugan. When looking long range, it functioned more or less like a telescope: an extremelly powerful tool, but without knowing what you're looking for and a general direction in which to look at, useless. You could be searching for a Bijuu and you still would have trouble finding it.

So, he just let her scan blindly into the night, secretly praying that she wouldn't catch him spying on her, especially while giving off massive amounts of chakra. If she didn't recognize him after three years, the outcome could be...deadly. Finally she gave up and turned around, heading towards her things, and a thought popped into Naruto's mind, as he grinned like a fox, exposing unusually long canines.

Naruto took off leaving the tree top dangling, as he closed the thousand or so feet that separated him from Hinata in a few seconds. At the last moment, he dispelled the mantle so as to not hurt her. Even though he was resilient to the chakra (to the point that it actually healed and protected him), it still gave some nasty nasty burns to anyone else.

Hinata suddenly saw a huge chackra signature in her range, and realized with a start that it was right behind her! The most odd thing about this chakra was it's orange color, as opposed to blue.

Naruto was standing directly behind Hinata, he didn't give her enough time to react, not even enough time to think. He grabbed her wrists from behind and crossed his arms over her, keeping her immobile, with her back pressed against his chest. She was much shorter than him, the top of her head reached the place where his neck began.

Hinata gasped, realizing the situation she was in. Someone with an impressive chakra had just completely immobilized her, and was strong to the point she couldn't even hope to get out of that grip by her own means. Iff they wanted, she would be dead, and if no one came to help they could kidnap her and no one would notice until the next day...possibly the next week. Suddenly, stories shared amongst the Hyuuga clan and all the shinobi popped into her mind: stories of eye-gouging to attain the power of dojutsus, or worse...of _rape_.

Realizing just how scared she was and mentally berating himself for this prankster side of him, Naruto decided to stop it quickly before she would get mad at him. In a single quick movement he released her wrists and turned her around, pulling her into a tight hug and burying his head in her shoulder.

Hinata's brain was working hard, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Whoever he was, he had had her pinned down, she couldn't do anything to him...Yet, he let her go, and now was hugging her. _Hugging _her! There's a reason to why hugs are such a friendly gesture; when you're giving them, you expose your chest to the other person. You're vulnerable; all it takes is a well-placed and fast punch to kill, and Hinata...well, she had been trained since she was able to walk to do that sort of thing (only more efficiently, with the Gentle Fist). If he knew who she was he would never have exposed himself like this, but then again, if he didn't know who she was, why would he be hugging her?

And suddenly it hit her like a ton of bricks._That hair._That familiar scent, those blond spikes she came to know, and love, so well over the years. And when he spoke, he sent shivers down her spine right down to her toes.

"I've missed you Hinata-chan."

It was Naruto, he had been gone for three years, but now he was back! Why? She didn't care, he was_back._She had started liking him has a child, but it had developed into full-blown and _truelove _in the chunin exams when he cheered her on against her cousin, and then when he swore on her blood that he would avenge her. What had been admiration turned into love, a feeling she had kept safe in her heart over the course of three long years whithout seeing him (she knew what they said, and now she had proof – absence _does_ make the heart grow fonder). She wanted to hug him, but her body wasn't obeying her, and so she just stood there; her eyes closed and inhaling that smell, while blood poured to her cheeks and made her blush violently.

Naruto, realizing she wasn't hugging back pulled his head out to see her face, but never letting go of her.

"What's wrong, Hinata ?"

Hinata opened her eyes and gasped. Naruto was different, yet so familiar. He was older now, his wisker marks were darker and didn't take up all his face anymore, he was also more handsome, he was _hot_, his face framed by his long blond hair and Konoha hitaiate...but when she looked into those eyes, searching for the familiar deep, vibrant blue, all she found was_** red**_.

"Na-naruto, your eyes!"

Seeing his reflection in her lavender eyes, Naruto immediately apologized.

"Oh, sorry! Forgot to suppress my chackra." As he suppressed it, his pupils returned to normal and the red vanished, dulling his razor-sharp senses, but they were nevertheless sharper than those of the average shinobi.

Seeing the familiar blue and his foxy smile, she blushed even more violently. Naruto was hugging her,_ her_! She desperately desired to hug him back, and finally gathered the strenght she needed to pull her arms around his neck and to come closer. She wanted to bury her head in his chest, she wanted to feel his skin on her forehead, she longed to finally be able to share such an intimate and friendly moment with him. When he hugged her tighter, what she thought was impossible happened, she blush became even worse, her heart was thumping like a tribal drum to a fast dance in her chest, and right before she touched his bare neck...her senses vanished, her eyesight blackened and she lost contentiousness.

"Na-naruto-kun..."

"Hmm? Hinata?"

He felt her go limp in his arms, and thought he had done something wrong. He quickly scrambled to hold her up, and then lowered her down gently to the ground, resting her head on his lap.

"Hey! Hinata-chan, wake up!"

_"__Why does she always do this?"_

**_"It's not her fault kit, some people just can't handle...emotional situations."_**

_"What the hell do you mean by that, fox baka?"_

**_"Ahh, you've come a long way Naruto, but you still have a lot more to learn. Soon you'll see."_**The fox chuckled.**_"Meanwhile, you've got an unconscious girl in your arms and you can't leave her here all by her lonesome. And you most certainly can't take her back to the Hyuuga complex, they would attack you on sight if they saw you after three years of absence carrying their unconscious heir."_**

_"I can take them."_

**_"I never said you couldn't, but I think the girl, and the Hokage, wouldn't be very happy if they found a crater where the Hyuuga clan house used to be. And besides, killing off her clan would defeat the whole purpose of taking her there in the first place, wouldn't it?"_**

Naruto didn't answer him, just sighing instead. The fox was right again. As he gazed upon the fragile girl, a warm, caring smile adorned his face. She was beautiful. And she was _hot_. Her midnight blue hair was sprayed behind her head like a halo, which made her seen even more gorgeous as it accentuated her delicate features and pale skin color. He slowly maneuvered her up onto his lap, cradling her like a newborn child. He ran his hand over her cheek, and placed a light kiss upon her forehead.

"Don't worry, I'd never leave you out here alone." he whispered.

* * *

Author's Note:

Update time guize. You all were wondering when Hinata would be introduced.. well here she is. Hope you like it.

As always a special thanks to my beta Temestuous Caeli, I'm sending her the next chapter right away, and this week a thanks to the band _Oomph!, _I really recommend them.

I took a week long break from fanfiction: had to get everything ready for college, so I couldn't write as much as I hoped, but still I finished chapter number six this morning and will begin writing up number seven this night.

I also activated anonymous reviews due to popular demand. Please review and send word to your friends.

Next chapter in a week or maybe sooner if I feel like it, keep checking in.


	5. Chapter 3

Hinata was sleeping peacefully. She wasn't dreaming, but she wasn't having any nightmares either; which was a nice change. Usually she spent whole nights awake, not wanting to fall asleep just to keep the nightmares at bay, and then the next day she would pass out of exhaustion during her training. It was hard, but she pushed through it, and slowly she had become a better kunoichi. She hadn't told anyone about her nightmares, not even her teammates when they were still close; it would just worry them, she had it under control.

Slowly she opened her eyelids as her eyes adjusted to the light. She didn't want to, she hadn't slept like this in a long time, and it was refreshing, but she did nonetheless.

_Where am I?_

This wasn't her room. It was _a _bedroom, but it wasn't _hers_. She was lying in a small bed with a soft and confortable mattress, a huge comforter and lots of pillows. As she sat up, she took in the details of where she was.

_It's a bedroom, I'm not bound...I wasn't captured.._

She was fully dressed, except for her jacket and sandals, which had been removed. Behind the bed she saw a flag of sorts hanging on the wall that had Konoha's crest printed on it. A sigh of relief left her lips. _I'm in Konoha, or at least in some place friendly to Konoha._

The bedroom was small, and didn't have a lot of furniture, just the bed and a dresser. The bed was pressed in a corner against the wall, and directly in front of it was an open door that led to a closet. The dresser was by the bed. There were more two doors, both closed, and a window behind closed curtains, rays of light seeping trough it.

She slowly got up. When she was on her feet, she noticed that the room hadn't been cleaned in a long time; a fine layer of dust stuck to her bare feet. She decided to try one of the doors, the one that lay on the opposite side of the room. When she got near it she saw her jacket by the door covering something, she picked it up and beneath it she found her sandals and - _Katanas? _There was also a black robe underneath it and two backpacks, one of which was her own.

She picked up one of the katanas and unsheathed it, the blade seeming to glow in the dim light. She put everything like it was before her disturbance and opened the door. Behind it she found a small bathroom, it didn't look like it had been used in a long time; except for the mirror, which had been cleaned.

Shrugging she turned back around and her eyes focused on a picture of Team 7 on top of the dresser. _Team 7?...Naruto!_

Last night came back to her. _He must have brought me back after I fainted._

She backed up against the wall and slowly slid to the floor, her face redder than a tomato. _I slept in his bed. I SLEPT IN NARUTO'S BED!_

"YOSH!" she exclaimed, not caring who heard it.

_Wait...Did I...? Did he...? Did we...?_The blush deepened. _Did we have...sex? Did he like having me, at least?_

Hinata didn't mind if Naruto had ravaged her, taken her chastity. He was the only man she would ever love. She herself had fantasized about it many times, yet she had always thought she wouldn't be able to please him. She had such low self-esteem; and as she saw it, if Naruto wasn't here it meant that he didn't enjoy her most precious gift. Tears were welling up in her eyes, but she decided to check it herself first. Reaching under her training pants and panties, she reached for her womanhood, examining it with her nimble fingers. _Everything seems normal down there...I guess that wasn't it._

She grabbed her bag from under his robe, then went into the bathroom and closed the door. _Naruto's really nice, I bet he wouldn't mind.._.

She was covered in grime and dirt from training the night before. She didn't want to impose and abuse of his hospitality, but if he didn't mind her sleeping all sweaty and dirty in his own bed, he wouldn't mind her using the bathroom. She started undressing, first her shirt and chainmail, then her pants, then her bra, followed by her lace panties that dropped to the floor. She steped back and looked at herself in the mirror.

A man, or a normal person, would see a young woman so beautiful she was comparable to a godess: milky white skin, only dotted here and there by a scar, something normal for a shinobi, a perfect hourglass figure, ample breasts and wide hips. She wasn't toned, but she wasn't a weakling either. She wasn't skinny, but she didn't have any excess weight. Her midnight black hair was so long it fell like a curtain down her back and almost reached her thighs. She didn't have any hair in any part of her body except for that covering her womanhood: this was the norm for most kunoichi, but due to personal grooming. As for the Hyuuga women, due to a random mishap of nature they were naturally hairless, and this was the only thing Hinata liked about her body.

She had such low self esteem, that where regular people saw perfection in her beautiful features, cute nose, and lavender eyes, she saw an ugly teen that was too damn shy (but she was working on that!). She got into the bathtub/shower combo and closed the curtain. She turned on the water, and with the help of a bit of soap washed away all of the dirt, sweat and grime from her training.

When she was done she turned off the water, stepped out of the tub, wrapped herself in a towel, and wiped herself dry. She went to her bag and retrieved a clean set of underwear and a t-shirt, then got dressed with the same pants from the night before and stored the dirty clothes in the bag. Since she practically never went to the Hyuuga manor, she always carried around several clean sets of clothes.

When she heard the window opening in the bedroom, her ninja senses kicked in and she flew out the bathroom door, Byakugan activated and ready to pounce on whoever made that disturbance. She blushed and looked down when she was greeted by a foxy grin.

* * *

Naruto got up from the couch, dressed like he was the night before (minus the robe and katanas), yawning loudly. After spending three years on the road, he would very much like to enjoy a hot shower in his bathroom. In the last few days before returning to Konoha, he and Jiraya had to travel especially fast in order not to miss their deadline with Tsunade, and to do so they had been forced to sleep outdoors. Long story short, he now smelled worse than a camel and had dirt smuges all over, yet he didn't want to disturb the beautiful girl sleeping in his bed.

Naruto decided to check up on Hinata, so he slowly crept into the bedroom and kneeled next to the bed. Looking at her sleeping figure, a caring smile crept into his face. His hand traveled to her cheek, fingers caressing it. Something about her made him want to protect and look out for her for the rest of his life.

_**"I think you like her..." **_The Great Fox's tone was as close to being teasing as a demon's could come.

_"No I don't, you stupid fox!"_ Naruto instantly remembered that moment before his fight against Neji, when he had learned just how she was like him.

_**"Ohh I think you do! The way you look at her tells me everything!" **_Naruto could _hear_ the fox's smirk.

_"I just care for her, that's all."_

_**"Yeah yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night. Tell you what, since you**_** care**_** for her so much, why don't you make her breakfast? I'm sure she'll**_** care **_**for that too!"**_

_"Your sarcasm isn't appreciated...But your ideas are, fox!"_

Naruto tucked Hinata in and got out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him gently. He summoned his chackra and in a flash he was out of the kitchen window jumping along the roof tops on all fours, heading for the grocery store. He did this to avoid running into any of his old friends, he wasn't ready to meet with them yet.

He was back in no time with a bag full of groceries. Naruto decided to enter through the bedroom window to check if Hinata was still sleeping and this time he remembered to suppress his chakra, so as to not scare her with his red eyes.

_**"Honestly kit I don't know what's the problem with the eyes, my eye-color is rather dashing if I say so myself."**_

_"Hey they don't bother me, I even kinda like it, makes me look wild. But for regular people who aren't used to seeing me like this it's kinda weird."_

He opened the window and stepped inside, and as soon as his feet touched the floor Hinata jumped out of the bathroom. He grinned as Hinata blushed and looked down poking her fingers together.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!"

"H-hello, Naruto-kun."_Oh my, he really is good-looking! He really filled out nicely._

Naruto closed the window and headed into the kitchen, followed closely by Hinata.

"I hope you slept well last night, you really scared me when you passed out."

"Um- I slept very well, thank you, Naruto-kun. Sorry for s-scaring you."

Naruto fired up the stove and stared preparing some bacon and eggs.

"You don't have to apologize. It's just funny how you seem to faint around me all the time! Maybe you're allergic to me or something!" Naruto chuckled but then stared wide-eyed at Hinata's reaction.

"NO!" Hinata exclaimed. "I-I'm not allergic to you, Naruto-kun! It's j-just.. When I'm around you...I-I..." Naruto put a plate of food in front of her, effectively cutting her off.

"Hinata, if you want, we can talk later...Now you should eat, you need to get your strength back. You're fainting way to much for your own good!"

Hinata felt a little bad when she realized that Naruto didn't get what she was saying, but nodded nonetheless. He was a little dense sometimes, but she loved him just the same.

"I'm sorry Hinata, I don't want to leave you alone but I_ really _need a shower, and I see you've already taken one." He smiled warmly at her. "After we can do something if you want, or I'll take you home, okay?" Another nod.

Naruto didn't know what he was doing, but he felt it was right. He stepped behind Hinata and she turned to face him with a confused look. He cupped her reddening face with one hand, and, as she blushed violently, he came closer and kissed her forehead. "Dig in, Hinata-chan. I'll be right back." He let her go and stepped into the bedroom taking of his vest and shirt. Entering the bathroom, he shut the door behind him.

Hinata was paralized in shock, awe, and love. She watched as Naruto went to take his shower and marveled at the muscles on his back. When he closed the door, she felt shivers running up and down her spine._ He- He kissed me._

The Hyuuga heiress felt the blood rush to her face, as she stared at the kitchen door. Finaly after five whole minutes, she stettled down a bit and started eating the breakfast he'd prepared for her, blushing deeply and with a smile on her face. All she wanted to do was run in there and jump into his arms.

* * *

"Stupid stupid stupid!" Naruto whispered as he gently pounded the wall, not wanting Hinata to hear him.

_Oh Kami, what's she gonna think of me now? Dammit, that was so out of line!_

He didn't think, he didn't know why, but at that moment he _wanted_ to hold her and kiss her, and so, with a warm feeling in his stomach, he just did it. It was on the forehead, but still very intimate. When he realized what he'd done, he rushed into the bathroom to take a shower , where he was now.

_She's __**got**__ to be mad at me...Yeah, she is. I have to figure out a way to apologize to her...that's right, if I apologize, she won't hold it against me, right?_

_**"You really are a pitiful human..."**_

_"Huh? What? I don't have time for you right now, Kyu, I have to think!"_

_**"Will you just stop and listen to me for a minute?"**_The great fox said sternly. Naruto knew better than to defy his friend when he spoke like this.

_"I'm listening..."_

_**"Naruto what you did was not wrong."**_ He sighed.

_"And what would a demon fox know about human relationship, hmm? Might I ask?"_

The great fox sighed._**"YOU CONTINUE TO UNDERESTIMATE ME BOY!" **_Naruto shivered, Kyu hadn't spoken to him like this in a long time.

_"I'm sorry.. It's just- I'm nervous! I just got to the village, and first I had to go all bad boy and scare the shit out of her then-then she fainted then-then"_

_**"Oh, would you just shut up and listen?"**_ Silence._**" Well. As you know you were not my first, Naruto."**_ Naruto chuckled._**"Not like that! Sheesh, and then I'm the dammed pervert!"**_

He cleared his throat._**"As was saying, you were not my first...Host. As you already know, I've had other Jinchurikis, and one of them was your mother."**_

_"Oh yeah, that's right! I remember you telling me this while we were with Ero-Sennin in Myoboku, but what does that have to do with anything?"_

_**"Well at that time I was still...bad. Your mother never talked to me, unlike you, mainly because when I was trapped inside her I just screamed all day long. I've screamed at you and you at me before, but it was different. Your mom was a pure blooded member of the great Uzumaki clan, and her chakra...Well let's just say that prison you had me in before we fused was heaven when compared to being trapped inside her."**_

Naruto gulped at this confession from the fox. His pride kept him from admitting weaknesses and pain like this, so it must have been really horrible for him inside his mom. Despite this, he decided to get a move on and started washing his hair and his body while he talked with the fox. He didn't want to keep Hinata waiting forever.

_**"Even though I was imprisoned like that...I still caught some of your mother's life, especially when she had strong feelings or emotions running trough her: when she was with your father. I may be a demon, but thanks to you, I have human feelings and can understand things that previously were out of reach for me. I do know about human relationships, and I can tell you that what you did wasn't out of line. It would have been if you weren't close-"**_

_"Yeah! Right! I know! Hinata is one of my precious people, but we've never talked too much. She's one of my closest friends but- We haven't talked in three years!"_

_**"DAMMIT, NARUTO! I HATE BEING INTERRUPTED!"**_ The Kyuubi let out a growl so loud it rocked Naruto's mind and rang in his ears.

_"Okay, okay, I'll be quiet!"_

_**"As I was saying...If you weren't close that would be out of line. But she clearly has feelings for you Naruto. As you have for her."**_

Naruto was dumbstruck. He thought the fox didn't know anything about how these intricacies of human life worked. But he had proven him wrong, once again. But what had him shocked was the thought of the girl now sitting in his kitchen. He had always thought he loved Sakura, she was the prettiest girl in his class...or rather, she was the one that everyone else wanted, but she only had eyes for Sasuke. Over the course of three years, he hadn't thought of her like that once. He missed her of course, like he had missed everyone else but.._Hinata.. She's always been very shy, but.. She was as pretty or prettier than Sakura, but always hid in a corner. But I liked her. She wasn't like the other girls, and she didn't tease me at the Academy. But now...She's a knock-out!_

_"Kyu.. I don't know what to do.. Why do you say I lo- like like her?"_

_**"Your confusion is normal, Naruto, it's the first time you've gone through this, and the childhood you had...Well, what I can tell you is that warm feeling you get when you look at her, it's what your mother felt when she looked at your father."**_

Naruto gave this information a moment's thought.

_"Thank you, Kyu, you're a good companion."_

_**"No problem, Naruto, I don't know everything, but I know a lot. When you want to know something, it doesn't hurt to ask."**_

Naruto had finished washing himself, and now just stood beneath the shower, letting the water fall down his body, calming his senses.

_I think I'll just spend some time with Hinata...See what happens. At the very least I'll learn a bit more about her._

Naruto closed off the water and stepped out of the shower. He toweled off a bit, and wrapped the towel around his waist. The blond then stepped out of the bathroom and into the bedroom.

Naruto knelt by the door where his stuff was. He pulled out some clean clothes from his bag, and picked up his robe, katanas and weapons pouches. He got up with his things in his arms and started walking to the bed in order to get dressed. That is, until he remembered the bedroom door was open. Looking out, he caught sight of a heavily blushing Hinata staring wide-eyed at him with her arms in the sink.

* * *

Hinata finished her food. She had eaten slowly, and Naruto still wasn't finished with his shower yet, so she decided to take care of the dishes. She turned on the water and poured some soap into the sponge, and started scrubbing.

_Naruto-kun, what happened to you over these three years?_

She had loved him almost since the first moment she saw him, but Naruto had never given her any...more-than-friendly attention. They did have their moments, but he always gave more attention to Sakura. He was like a puppy following the pink-haired girl everywhere. She didn't know if Naruto only had a crush on her, or if he truly loved the banshee. Most of the time, she didn't want to know; she wanted to be kept in blissful ignorance, fantasizing about dating, marriage, kids and... Since she turned about fourteen.. Sex, _lots _and_ lots_ of blond, blue-eyed shinobi sex. She breathed deeply, trying to keep those thoughts under check, feeling her panties getting wet.

She was almost finished with the dishes when the bathroom door opened, and Naruto stepped out. He only had a towel around his waist, and Hinata marveled at his body.

He was a _man_. He was perfectly chiseled, his abs, his shoulders, biceps...She had seen Kiba without his shirt before, and he was fit and in shape, but this was completely different. First, Kiba was just a teammate and a friend, and Naruto...well, Naruto's muscles put Kibas' to shame. His wet hair still clung to the back of his neck and his blue eyes shone, but what got her attention was the intricate tatoo he had on his stomach.

"Oh, sorry Hinata-chan!" He gave her a sheepish grin. "I'll be out in a minute." He closed the door.

He came back out dressed like he was last night: black sandals, black jumpsuit, green vest, black robe, two katanas on his back and his forehead protector. Hinata took in the view, last night it had been dark and she didn't get a good look at him before she fainted. Those clothes really suited him.

"So Hinata, um...What do you want to do today..? I was thinking maybe we could go grab some lunch and take a walk around the village, or maybe get some training done! Or, um, if you don't like the idea, I could just walk you home, I guess.."

_**"Good going kid."**_

"No! Umm- I- I mean, I would love to go with you, Naruto-kun!"_He's asking me on a date!_

"Okay. So, maybe we could hang out here for a while, and then go down to Ichiraku's and have lunch, and then we'll wing it from there, okay?"

"Sounds l-lovely, Naruto-kun. Um- uh- Can- May I ask you something, Naruto-kun?" She stuttered, unsure of how to ask this completely unrelated question.

Surprised, Naruto answered. "Of course, Hinata-chan!"

"W-when did you get a Ta-tatoo?" Hinata blushed, she was embarrassed because he would know she looked at him while he was partially naked.. But she was curious, and after seeing the man he had become, she wanted to touch him and planed on using this as an excuse.

"Huh? What tatoo?" Naruto didn't really know what she was referring to. He heard the fox clearing his throat in his mind.

"Th-that tatoo you have on your s-stomach."

Naruto awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Oh, that! Well that's just- I got that when- I- um- How about we go get that ramen?"

* * *

Author's note:

So guize here is chapter three, as always a mega thanks to my beta: Tempestuous Caeli.

Now for some bad news, college started this week, and I haven't been able to put any writing in.. I didn't have any time and am literally drop-dead tired. In Portugal we have a initiation ritual to the University called "praxe", think of it like boot camp. Long story short I'm dirty, I'm tired, my throat is sore and my arms and legs hurt like hell. This means that maybe the updates will be bumped to twice a month, or rather, once every two weeks, or every other week, you guys choose (hint: it's the same thing), but I dunno yet, maybe if I have time to write on the weekend I'll be able to keep up the pace.

In other news, I'm gonna update the Disclaimer and Author's Note section. Check it out.

Peace out guys, review. :D I'll leave you with these song verses, virtual cookies to whomever translates it:

Quando fui p'ra faculdade  
Entrei para Electro  
Foi quando eu percebi  
Que tinha um pau com mais dum metro

Porque aqui Engenharia,  
Não há melhor curso  
E quem não pensar assim  
Incha como um urso


	6. Chapter 4

Teuchi mixed the noodles in the hot pan, then closed it and proceeded to wipe the beads of sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Ayame, could you bring in some more bags of flour from the back? I'm gonna need them to make the next batch!" said Teuchi to his daughter.

"Yes dad!" Ayame chirped back as she proceeded to do what his father asked of her, bringing flour in to the store front from the storage space in the back. She then helped him spice up the beef soup.

Working in a ramen stand was hard work. Ever since her mother died during that fateful night sixteen years ago, she had filled her shoes and worked in the stand besides her father.

It was always hot in the stand because of the stove. Sometimes you'd get horrible burns from the boiling water, you had to help unload supplies when they got delivered, you had to be at the stand early every morning to prepare the food for the first customers and work late into the night to ensure everything was clean and in proper working condition for the next day. Even though it really was hard work, both Ayame and Teuchi were grateful for it; they made good money with the stand, enough to get by and to live a comfortable life, and the risk of work accidents was nothing compared to what the village shinobi went through. It was even satisfying; Ayame didn't share her father's life purpose of feeding people, but she did like making them happy, and with this stand they had made new acquaintances and friendships. She instantly thought of one blond-haired boy that used to come by almost every day, sometimes several times a day. He even brought his friends along with him, and since he had left with master Jiraiya, business had slowed down a bit.

Ayame knew what was trapped inside that boy: a demon of untold power, the very demon that caused her mother's death, and yet, she couldn't care less. He was making a sacrifice for the rest of them keeping that thing locked away, and she made her opinion of Naruto very clear to every villager she heard bad-mouthing the boy.

What she truly admired in him was the effect he had on people: his enticing personality urged them to bond with him, and when someone didn't accept him for who he was, he_ made _them accept him. She had seen many examples of this since she had known him, but the most staggering was the raven haired, lavender eyed girl that, without fail, came by at least once a week to have breakfast, lunch or dinner. She never was one to come by on her own, Ayame thought; she always came in with friends or teammates…that is, until Naruto departed for his training trip. Since then, she started going there on her own, sitting in Naruto's favorite stool, ordering his favorite ramen, and just sitting there, sometimes for several hours on end, hands grabbing the bowl she had ordered, simply taking in the warmth.

Ayame didn't know a whole lot about the girl at the time, just that she was a fellow shinobi of Team 8 and that she was a bit shy…Okay,_ very _shy, and she chatted with her like she did with every customer, and she came to discover some interesting facts.. The most surprising: she loved Naruto. Even Ayame thought it to be a bit far-fetched at first but it was the only possible explanation: she loved him. Over the course of three years, she saw her develop from a cute girl into a fine young woman, one that she, not knowing why, hoped would get her wishes fulfilled.

Ayame put the recently washed bowls and dishes from the morning customers away under the counter and more change into the register, preparing for the lunch hour.

_Speak of the devil…_

She saw a familiar lavender-eyed girl entering the stand and sitting on what was previously Naruto's stool, followed by a tall blond man she didn't recognize.

* * *

"Ohh, I so _needed_ this!"exhaled Jiraiya as he let himself sink even further into the hot spring's waters.

He heard some women giggling through the wooden division. _My pervy senses are tingling! _He wanted to get up, peek over that wall, and get some new material for his books. It was torture laying there, hearing those girls playing (possibly with each other? Oh, that thought alone could give him enough information for a whole book by itself!), but he was just too sore. Tsunade had really done a number on him the previous night: three cracked ribs, a dislocated shoulder, a hairline fracture in one of his legs, and a huge concussion. Thanks to Shizune and some time spent in the hospital those were all healed, but he was still very, very sore and somewhat bruised.

Tsunade made it her personal mission to extract from him every single detail from the trip. Of course he had tried to hide some…More perverted and embarrassing details, but she had always had a knack for finding out when he was lying, so he got pounded into the ground in the end.

The worst part was when he told her about what Sayadaw did to the boy. He really didn't mean to do it, he was just trying to force Naruto to confront the fox's malevolent chakra, to gain some more control over it, to be able to use the four tailed form without losing his mind to bloodlust. It was incredibly dangerous, it almost killed Naruto, it could have released the fox, and now it got him a terrible beating. Yes, things could have gone terribly wrong, but Jiraiya was sure of one thing:

_What that stupid Sayadaw did…Was worth it.

* * *

_

"Hello, and welcome!" said Ayame enthusiastically. "Come for your usual, have you Hinata-san? And I see you've brought a friend!"

_She doesn't know who I am?_ Thought Naruto to himself. _When she finds out, she's gonna freak!_

"Ha-hai Ayame. Yes, I've brought Na-"

"Yes, I've come too!" Ayame and Teuchi just couldn't put their fingers on it, but something was eerily familiar about this man.

"So, Hinata, what's this? You've brought a fine young man on a date, but what will Naruto think when he comes back?" Teuchi said as he teased the young woman.

Hinata started blushing furiously. "Um.. I-I wouldn't worry.. Y-you see, this is-"

"A good looking young man? Why, yes I am!" Naruto winked at Hinata, getting a sudden understanding look from her. "But you see, there is a small problem…" Naruto said as he showed off this trademark grin.

_Wait just a darned second…_Teuchi and Ayame thought to themselves.

"…You're sitting in my spot, Hinata-chan!"

"Naruto? Is that really you?" Asked Ayame.

"'Bout time someone remembered my name!"

* * *

Dark hallways dug deep into the earth, carved from the rock itself with chakra. Torches lined every couple of meters provided some light, however, they ended up giving the corridors even more of an aspect of mystery and darkness.

Doors were spaced out evenly in large intervals, providing access to the many rooms of the compound. Some were just bedrooms; a few were provided places for meetings and briefings. Some, that where usually locked with chakra binding seals, contained the horrible experiments of the Snake Sannin and his beloved cohort.

Eventually, if you were to thoroughly search the vast corridors you would find yourself upon a door that looked like the so many others. Behind that door, a corridor. First it started out sculpted like the rest of the compound, but then, it grew more natural, resembling a cave. As the corridor progressed stalactites began growing from the ceiling and, eventually, the corridor opened into a massive cave.

Rather circular in shape, the cave was truly massive, with a diameter of sixty meters, and extending about a hundred or so above. Massive stalactites lined the roof of the cave, down below stalagmites grew close to the walls. In some places, they fused together creating columns of stone as wide as several Akimichi men. On the very top of the cavern, a small opening let the daylight in, shining down on a pool in the center of the cave. Drops of water dripped down from the ceiling, occasionally disturbing the surface of the pool's dark waters. Many differently colored crystals lined the cave, reflecting and refracting the light shining down, giving it a surreal look.

Sitting cross-legged in the center of the pool's surface (which also happened to be the center of the cave) was Sasuke Uchiha, dressed only in black pants, not wearing anything else, a katana sitting on his lap. He was quietly meditating, illuminated in different colors from the crystals. Rather surprisingly, the lake barely reflected any light. Although its waters were completely clear, the lake bed couldn't be seen, only black.

Sasuke was deep in meditation; eyes closed, head down, hands on his lap, muscles tensed.

From the three Sharingan-reminiscent blades upon his left shoulder, black marks started spreading over his entire body, eventually the marks themselves started growing, spreading, expanding, turning his skin into a deep, eerie gray. Two hand-like wings shot up from his back: the hands of darkness and temptation. They arched, preparing to propel him. Sasuke slowly gripped his katana. Black beams of electricity started running through his body, into the blade and into the lake, crackling at the lakes surface, giving off the sound of a thousand wings flapping.

Suddenly, the wings pushed down, and in the next instant Sasuke was at the top of the cave, turned upside down directly below the rays of light that seemed to avoid him like the very demon he was.

A swing of the katana…

"Chidori senbon!"

Needles of black energy left the blade and…One, two, ten, twenty…Turned all the crystals into multi-colored dust.

Sasuke was once again in the center of the lake, this time standing, curse seal deactivated, black eyes instead of the red. Now that all the crystals were destroyed the light shone down on him like a spotlight. The crystal dust suspended in the air crossed the path of the light in an ethereal display.

Sasuke stepped out of the light and into the darkness, heading for the corridor.

_Soon, I will put that snake out of his misery.

* * *

_

Naruto and Hinata were sitting side by side on the edge of a small river on the outskirts of Konoha. This spot was rather special; the edges of the river were completely filled either with trees or rocks for miles, except in this spot.

Nestled between two large rocks, six or seven meters between them, the tees were more spread out, the ground was lined with soft grass and fallen leaves from the trees. If you were to travel into the forest, the trees would become more compact, and the forest floor would be lined with waist-high bushes. This, combined with the rocks on either side, extending into the river, gave it a sense of privacy and of complete seclusion. Coarse sand accumulated on the river's edge, making it a perfect place for bathing. Close to the river grew weeping willows, their curtain-like branches gently touching the water, further adding to the seclusion and privacy of the place.

"Na-naruto-kun?"

"Yes, Hinata-chan?"

"Thi-this place is lovely."

"I'm glad you like it, I found it when we were still in the Academy. I was training in the river trying to increase my stamina but I got tired and needed a place to rest for a bit…I found this grove. Since then I've started coming here whenever I needed to relax and think."

"I am sure your teammates lo-loved it too."

"Uh, well…Actually, I've never brought any of them here.. This is…kind of my special spot."

Hinata's face reddened a little, and she smiled. "Ano…So I am the f-first…that you've brought here, Naruto-kun? Why?"

Naruto grinned at that question, and laid down, hands clasped behind his head, watching as sparrows jumped from branch to branch.

"Eh…don't know. After we were done eating I wanted to spend more time with you, so I brought you here. It just felt…natural, I guess."

Hinata blushed even more at his remark. And as she was about to answer Naruto surprised her with another question:

"Hinata-chan, why have you always been nice to me?"

_Because I love you._"Ano..W-why do you ask that Naruto-kun?"

"Because I want to know." Naruto sat back up and unstrapped the katanas from his back as he put them down by his side. "Ahh, much better. I'm still not _quite_ used to always having them on my back…" Hinata eyed the twin blades; she never thought Naruto was one to use katanas. "Anyway, because I want to know why. Of all the people I know, you're the only one that's always been nice to me. I know you try to be nice to everyone…but I don't know, it just_ feels _different with me."

_**"I already told you kit, she loves you."**_

_"I won't believe that until I hear it from her mouth."_

"Um..Ano…Na-Naru…" Hinata tried to hide her eyes from Naruto's, so she awkwardly looked at the trees, the grass, and the little insects flying around, but those piercing blue orbs always found her._ Get yourself together, Hinata! _She thought to herself. _Tell him!_

"Go on Hinata, I won't bite.. Much." Naruto laughed trying to break the ice and Hinata just blushed. She kept getting redder and redder and when Naruto though she was about to feint she took a deep breath.

"Naruto-kun…I-I've always been…Ano…_ Nicer _to you because I've always admired you. You always push on, and that made me want to be more..like you. You were an orphan, but now you have people who are like family. You were w-weak, "dead last," they all said…Now, I can tell by your chakra…y-you are the strongest I've ever seen." Naruto was in a state of shock. Did he think she was nice to him because she was a wonderful and caring young woman? Yes. Did he think she might care for him more than usual? Maybe. But _admiration?_ He didn't expect it from anyone. _Ever_. Even after he would become Hokage, he expected respect, maybe even some sort of devotion, but never admiration. "…You've become so much more than everyone ever thought you would. But I-I've always seen it in you..A-and, mo-most of all, In some aspects we are the sa-same; You were alone.. Like me."

"Huh…" Naruto started scratching the back of his neck while grinning. "Hinata-chan, you've never been alone! You're the Hyuuga heiress! You've got a whole clan looking out for you! And Shino, and Kiba, hell, the whole damn village!" Naruto continued laughing but suddenly turned rather serious."With me, it was…a little…_different_. People have a way of fearing what they don't understand."

_**"Stop deflecting."**_

_"What?"_

_**"It's a horrible habit you humans have. When a certain subject is uncomfortable to discuss you unconsciously find a way around it. Even if it's important, like in this case."**_

_"Umm. So I defle-deflected? Because I wanted to avoid the subject? But what did I avoid?"_

_**"I guess it's not that obvious to you little one. The most important thing she confessed was her admiration, for**_** you**_**. But instead of discussing it you avoided the subject, instead pressing on your loneliness, which has almost nothing to be discussed since even a buffoon - wait, not a buffoon, since **_**you**_** clearly missed it…"**_

_"Ha. Ha."_

_**"..could have seen that the two of you are perhaps the most lonely people this dammed village has ever housed. Even counting the emo Uchiha."**_

Naruto chuckled a bit in his mindscape._"Thanks Kyu. I'll talk to her about it, but I still think she's not that lonely."_

_**"No problem kit. But she is. Just as much as you. While you try to be obnoxious and loud all the time to mask your true feelings, she doesn't use such a facade: she does just the opposite, she acts like she feels, retracting inward, not talking more than strictly necessary, pushing everyone away. For some reason,**_** wink wink nudge nudge**_**, she's opening up to your sorry excuse for a ninja, and she needs your help. I sense good things for the both of you, so let her in!"**_

_"But.. What if she's like the rest of them? What if she abandons me after I've trusted her? What if she asks about _you?"

_**"You'll just have to trust her and listen to her. And if she asks tell her the truth. It's about time everyone learns anyway. Now pay attention to the dammed conversation!"**_

"…ou okay?"

Naruto was looking into the eyes of a concerned Hinata as she leaned a bit towards him, trying to figure out what was wrong.

"Huh? Yes! Yeah! I'm okay. Must've spaced out for a bit there."

Hinata blushed and backed to her original position. "Gl-glad to hear it. But, Ano…Naruto-kun, I wasn't as lucky as you made me out to be…"

"How so, Hinata-chan?"

_I love it when he calls me Hinata-chan..._" I never really had an-anyone after my mother died. Fa-father became so co-cold, and strict. He only cared about st-strength and, eventually…he began seeing me like the rest of the clan did, a_ we-weakling_..."

"But, that's not right! I know you, Hinata-chan, you're one of the best kunoichi from Konoha! Oops…Sorry, go on."

Hinata smiled and blushed but kept her emotions in check and kept going. "…Th-they all thought I wasn't fit to be heiress, or a…ku-kunoichi, for that matter. Eventually, he gave up on me and started training my s-sister. But I'm glad he did."

"Why, Hinata?"

"Because…because he sent me to the Aca-academy."_ Where I could see you every day._

"In that case I'm glad the bastard did it too… Oh, sorry," Naruto apologized, blushing for a second at his blunder.

"That's okay Naruto-kun…He de-deserves it." Hinata smiled.

"Don't stop. Please."

"S-stop what?" A perplexed expression crossed her face, forehead creasing in confusion.

"Smiling. I almost never see you do it, but when you do…I swear it's the cutest thing ever."

Hinata blushed furiously and started waving her hand in front of her face, trying to cool down her red cheeks. "T-th-tha-thanks, Na-naruto"

"Why do you admire me, Hinata?" He was serious again. Apparently to Hinata, this new Naruto was more thoughtful: he could be the same loud, high-on-life cutie she always knew, but he could also surprise her with deep questions. His sudden seriousness also helped her blush die down a bit, but it would still flare up when she thought about his compliment. _He thinks my smile is cute!_

"W-well…I've already told you a few reasons. The o-others are si-simple to guess. You do things no one else can…And you n-need someone to admire you."

"How so? Why do I need someone to admire me? Don't get me wrong, I'm flattered, but I just don't see the difference. And what can I do that no one else can?"

"E-everyone needs so-someone to be by their side." Hinata almost regretted saying this as she blushed again. Almost.

Naruto's eyebrows went up a little bit, but he didn't fully grasp the full meaning of those words at the moment.

"You're right, Hinata. I do." He reached out and placed his hand on top of hers, earning him a small "eep", but she didn't take it away and seemed to lean in towards the direction of the contact.

"But…You've also got someone to take care of you…well, I think. Before I went away, I heard that Neji was cleaning up his act. And your teammates are there too, right?"

Hinata looked at the river's waters and then down at her lap, a hurt look on her lavender eyes.

"Shino and Kiba aren't _always_ there. They're both good friends, but Shino was never one to…talk. Be-besides, he's been very busy with A-aburame business lately." Naruto nodded, the bug user _was_ a rather distant character. "And Kiba…He-he's…been…Um…hitting on me." Naruto just stared at her but then started laughing, grabbing his stomach. He laughed and laughed and laughed. Hinata felt a bit offended. Was it that bad for a boy to hit on her? Was she that ugly? Didn't he say she was cute? Was he lying to make her feel better? The only thing that kept her from running all out into the woods and away from him was his hand on top of hers.

When Naruto stopped laughing and his eyes refocused, he saw a sad Hinata looking down. He noticed her eyes starting to get wet as she looked up at him. The blonde let out a small "Aww". He let go of her hand and scooched closer to her, he brought his left arm over her shoulders, pressing her into him, making her rest her head on his chest, then grabbed the hand he was touching earlier with his right hand, intertwining their fingers and quietly said into her ear:

"I'm sorry Hinata; don't take it the wrong way." Hinata at this point almost didn't care about anything he had to say. She had only dreamt to be held like this by_ him_ and was thoroughly enjoying it. "I didn't mean anything bad, it's just that I was wondering when mutt-boy's doggy hormones would start acting up."

Hinata gave a small chuckle. "You're ri-right. Bu-but I don't like it when he does that. I do-don't li-li-like him in that way, and he knows it." Naruto arched an eyebrow.

"Oh really? And when did this start?"

"A-a bit after y-you le-left." Naruto just arched his eyebrow again. In his mindscape he stood, looking at the fox, who was lying down.

_**"What did I tell you? Looks like someone's been trying to muscle in on your girl."**_ The huge fox said while picking between his sharp, shiny teeth with his tongue.  
**  
**_"She's not my girl…Yet."_ Naruto put on his foxy grin.

"And..Did you give in to these…advances?"

Hinata jerked up and looked at his grin in shock, only to realize he was joking and laid back down on his shoulder.

"Of co-course not. Kiba's just a friend. That's it."

"Glad to hear it." This was Hinata's turn to arch her eyebrow, yet she was glad she wasn't looking up at him, because she once again blushed furiously. She blushed even more when Naruto's arm slid down from her shoulders to a new, more intimate position around her waist.

Hinata took a few moments to put herself back together, but finally was able to continue:

"Well…And Neji…He-he tries. He's become much better, as a fi-fighter and as a person. But it's very hard to t-trust him ever si-since he quite literally br-broke my he-heart in the exams." Hinata laughed awkwardly at her dark attempt at humor.

It was a good thing she wasn't looking up at Naruto's face, or she would have seen his blue eyes turning blood red as he remembered her coughing blood onto the floor in the chunin exams._ That bastard._ She did, however, feel his grip tightening around her protectively and his claws on her waist and on the back of her hand_. Claws?_ Yet she didn't think any of it, like it was something natural.

When he calmed down Naruto commented: "I'm glad I punched that smug smile off of his face."

"Me too. Th-thank you Na-Naruto-kun for de-defending me." Mustering all her courage Hinata gave him a peck on the cheek, blushing a deep tone of red and hiding her head in his shoulder. But she wasn't the only one blushing…The fox laughed violently inside his head but Naruto couldn't care less, he just stared blindly into the late afternoon sky while rubbing his hot cheek with his free hand.

"Hina-Hinata.. What was it you said I could do.. That no one else could?"

"We-well.. You bea-beat Neji. You de-defeated Ga-Gaara. Y-you brought the Hokage back.."

Naruto suddenly stood up.

"OH SHIT! Tsunade-baachan!"

"W-what's wrong, Naruto-kun?"

"I haven't reported in since I came back!"

"What?" Hinata knew what this meant. "Sh-She's going to ki-kill you!"

"I know, I know, I was going to go there first thing in the morning but I got distracted by a beautiful girl in my bedroom! Oh shit! Ooooh shiiiiit!"

Hinata stared as he walked in circles shouting profanities._ Beautiful girl? I don't think there was anyone else but me in that bedroom this morning._ She joked inwardly and sighed happily at the compliment.

Suddenly Naruto stopped. He re-strapped his katanas on his back, and turned to Hinata with a maniacal look. He grabbed her arms and gently shook her as he talked, looking into her eyes.

"I've got it! It's the perfect solution!" His eyes widened. "I'll kill her!"

_What?_ Hinata thought.

Seeing her look of confusion Naruto decided to clarify:

"I'll just kill her! She can't hit me if she's dead right? I'll just go over there and then ask…"

Hinata spaced out while he explained his plan. The Hokage was very scary at times, but she knew that getting a beat down was preferable to staging a_ coup_. As he talked her hand slowly came up besides Naruto's face, and he thought nothing of it. Slap.

For a few moments they froze in that position, her hand on his cheek. She didn't even hit him hard, but it is very difficult hitting someone you love, even if it's for their own good.

Finally Naruto stood up rubbing his cheek as tears flowed down Hinata's face as she mouthed "Sorry."

"No. Thanks, I needed that." Naruto cupped her face and kissed her forehead once again. Hinata stood on tip toes and kissed the cheek she had slapped. They both blushed.

"Well I guess I should go see her…"

"Y-Yes, you sh-should."

"Umm…"

Naruto grabbed her hand and jumped into the trees, speeding for the tower with Hinata struggling to keep up.

"I'm going to need a human shield!"

Even though the wind was pounding Naruto's ears as he ran through the forest he was still able to hear a small 'gulp'.

* * *

Autor's Note:

Hope you like it guys, even though (in my opinion) it's the worse chapter I've written. Sorry it took so long. Classes just seriously started and I'm finding myself with no time on my hands to do this except on weekends, and even by then I have lots of other stuff to do. Like studying Mathematical Analysis. Shit's hard. Caeli also has no time on her hands so that obviously means it takes longer for me to get the chapters out. Updates may become more scarse but I won't abandon this, and I'll make up for lost time on the Christmas Holidays (besides, I'm working on chapter eight now and believe me, compared to this one they're becoming monstrous).

_"Caloira de informática é escassa, mas basta dois cliques para abrir."_


	7. Chapter 5

It was a beautiful end to a beautiful afternoon. The setting sun over the mountains overlooking Konoha painted the skies in tones of red, yellow and purple. A light breeze wifed through the trees. Birds sang happily celebrating the end of another warm summer day.

Walking through a cobblestone path on a well known shortcut to her house though the forested area surrounding the training grounds, Sakura Haruno carried a heavy bag of groceries that she needed for supper. Her mom was on bed rest after a specially violent attack of her allergies.

When Sakura's mom and her went to visit Ino and her mom at the flower shop, she made it her mission to smell every type of flower in the room. Well, that's not a very smart thing to do when you're allergic to pollen. Sakura just sighed, the woman sometimes was worse than a five year old child, but at least she was funny. Sakura smiled a little, and then she felt it: a chakra signature so strong it made her shiver. Then she saw a tall blonde man jumping from one tree to another tree over the path at huge speeds pulling a young Hyuuga heiress behind him by her hand. She only saw them for a moment, if she were to blink she would have missed it. Gone with them was the chakra signature.

Sakura stood there in surprise and finally, after a few seconds, she just shrugged it off and started walking.

_About time Hinata got over that knucklehead Naruto and started dating men._

It hit her, she looked back at the spot they had been instants before.

_Naruto?

* * *

_

Tsunade was at her desk signing paperwork, as usual. This was the worse part of being Hokage: every single bit of paperwork that involved the village's treasury had to be personally approved by her. From repair work on the chicken coups they maintained to massive spiked steel strips ordered from the Land of Steel to reinforce their walls, every single thing had to be signed and stamped by her. This was due to a law remnant from distant times of corruption, so that no one could deviate funds from the treasury for their own profit. It made sense, she thought, but it also gave her one bitch of a headache.

She heard one muffled "Hi Shizune, long time no see huh? !" through her closed office doors.

Yes, there was only one thing that gave her a bigger headache than signing papers, and it was about to barge into her office.

The double doors swung open fiercely and banged into the walls they were attached to, one of them jumped clean off it's hinges and into the floor with a loud bang, leaving a stumped Naruto looking down at it, holding the Hyuuga heiress's hand as she hid behind his back with a stupefied Shizune in the background.

"Ups, guess I don't know my own strength baachan!" Naruto said as he grinned and scratched the back of his head.

"Na. Ru. To.." Said Tsunade as she gritted her teeth and hid her face in her hands. "Don't call me that!" She threw the candy bowl on her desk at him with all her might, but was surprised as he caught it long before it hit him, which was an impressive feat, to say the least.

"Naruto why didn't you report in earlier? Jiraya was here last night! I wouldn't mind if you reported in the morning but it's almost nighttime!" She screamed at him as she progressively got closer. Then she suddenly stopped and her face became calm. "And why did you bring Hinata with you?" The girl blushed but before she had a chance to answer Naruto did it for her:

"I ran into her last night and I thought I could use her as a human shield."

"Last night?" Tsunade got a bit angry again. "And what exactly have you two hormone-filled teens been doing since last night?"

"Uhh.. Ano.." Hinata blushed even more at the assumption that was made.

"None of your damn business baachan."

"What? None of my damn business? You know what would happen if it was discovered that you, practically my and Jiraya's protegé had been screwing around with the Hyuuga Clan heiress don't you? Hiashi would kill you, and then he would come to kill me, and I'd have to kick the shit out of him and loose command of a whole clan in the process!"

Hinata almost lost consciousness but recovered quickly as Naruto squeezed her hand.

"Woa baachan don't jump to conclusions! Sheesh! She just feinted, I don't know why, and I couldn't have just let her stay out in the cold, so I took her to my apartment! I set her down in the bed and I took the couch! Nothing happened!" Hinata nodded shyly behind him, practically hugging the arm that was holding her hand.

_**"But I bet you would LOOOOVE it if something happened.."**_

Naruto ignored the Demon Lord. "Ohh.. And by the way, Hiashi wouldn't do shit, I'd tear him limb from limb!" Naruto said as his eyes flashed red for a moment.

Tsunade definitely got a bit scarred, but she was quick at controlling her emotions. Hinata, who couldn't see his face, on the other hand was a bit curious at this new darker side of Naruto, but she just shrugged it off. It _was_ Naruto after all, and Naruto was quick to defend anyone, even if her father was the threat.

"Oh.. Jiraya warned me about this. Can I see your.. Humm.." Tsunade pointed to her belly.

"Yeah of course you can." Naruto said as Tsunade got close to him and down on her knees.

"Hinata wait outside please." Tsunade asked, she didn't want to leave, but Hinata knew to do what the Hokage ordered. But as she was about to let go of Naruto he doubled the grip he had on her hand, Hinata, with a look of confusion on her face was about to ask Naruto why he didn't let go when he said:

"No. She stays." Now it was Tsunade's turn to sport the look of confusion.

"You sure?" She asked.

"Yeah she's already seen my se- my tatoo." Naruto smiled at Hinata. She didn't know what was going on and didn't like being kept in the dark, especially with things that concerned Naruto, but she just smiled back and stayed by his side.

"Okay then, strip." Tsunade ordered with a sadistic smile.

"Hey, I'm not the kind of guy that drops his pants on the first date baachan!" Naruto replied with a smile of his own, and Hinata just giggled.

Naruto unstrapped his katanas from his back and took off his robe, he then got behind Hinata, put the robe on her and strapped the katanas to her back. "Take good care of those for me would you?" Hinata nodded. She was loving this, Naruto trusted her, and now she was wearing his black robe that was enormous on her small frame, but comfy at the same time. That coupled with the smell coming from it sent her to cloud nine. She could do without the heavy steel blades on her back though, but she didn't mind having them there for Naruto.

Naruto then proceeded to take off his vest.

"Where did you get that by the way brat? We only give them to chunin and jonin." The Hokage asked.

"I inherited it baachan."

"Oh.." Was the single reply coming from her. Naruto was now removing the top part of his jumpsuit which unzipped in the front. As the zipper went down Hinata's face got redder and redder until it went all the way down, just under his belly button and then he removed his arms from within it, leaving the top part of the one pieced jumpsuit hanging as he exposed his torso. Both the women in the room now looked at the black marks on his navel.

Now that she got a closer look at the tatoo, Hinata recognized the marks. She was no Fuuinjutsu expert but she was sure that was a seal, or had once been. It was as if it was ripped in half, Naruto's tan skin crossed the black marks like a bolt of lighting rips apart the darkness of the night, nullifying their power. But what most intrigued Hinata was what the seal once contained.. And why.

"Hmm it seems as Jiraya described." Tsunade said as he got up. "You were very lucky Naruto. Hell, we were all lucky!"

_**"Damn straight you were.."**_

Naruto glanced at Hinata and then back at Tsunade. "Umm.. _He_ seems to think the same."

"YOU CAN TALK TO HIM?" Tsunade exploded. Hinata unconsciously hid a bit from behind Naruto's back. Now she _really_ wanted to know what was going on. She thought about asking them but decided against it, if the Hokage had a problem with her knowing she had her reasons for it, and it was never a good idea to defy the Hokage. _I'll just ask Naruto-kun later.._

"Yeah..?" Naruto said as if it where a widely known fact.

"Why didn't Jiraya tell me this?"

"Umm, yeah, he kinda doesn't know.."

"So Naruto, you didn't think this was something you needed to tell your master and your Hokage?"

"Umm.. What answer won't get my ass kicked?"

"BAKA!" Tsunade exclaimed as she made a fresh new lump on Naruto's head.

"Ouch! I didn't deserve that!"

"Consider yourself lucky! I sent your pervert sensei to the hospital!"

"You're really mean baachan."

"Umm.. Naruto-kun?" They both looked at the shy girl who was being left out of the conversation.

"What Hinata-chan?"

"Co-com-come here." Hinata said gathering all her courage, and gesturing with her arms reaching for his head. Naruto lowered it until Hinata gently grabbed it and pulled it down even more. Eventually she enclosed his head in a hug and kissed the freshly made lump. Then she quickly let go of him, redder than a tomato.

Naruto got up and seeing his questioning look Hinata just answered:

"I-I had to ki-kiss it better."

Naruto smiled widely with tears welling up in his eyes and brought her into a tight hug, making Hinata even redder from having her face against his naked chest. "Thanks Hinata, I mean it."

_**"You see kit? She cares."**_

_"I know right? It's amazing!"_

They stayed like that for several seconds until Tsunade blurted out laughing, then they both looked at her at the same time and said "What?"

"I- I'm sorry-" Tsunade said between giggles. "..it's just.. You two are _so_ cute!"

They both smiled, blushed and let go of each other, this just made Tsunade laugh louder, but, eventually, the laughter died down.

"Ohh thanks you two, I haven't laughed like this since.. Well, since you went training baka!"

"I'm glad you can laugh at our expense baachan."

"Well, now I'm in a good mood Naruto! Tell you what, we'll have your debriefing tomorrow! Meanwhile why don't you take your new _girlfriend_ out for dinner?"

"Wha-? She's not my girlfriend!"

"Why? Isn't she a girl? Who happens to be your friend..? So she's your girlfriend right?"

Naruto was looking back and forth between Tsunade and Hinata as they both seemed to expect something from him. He was very surprised when it was Hinata that said:

"Well? Wha-what is it Naruto-kun?"

"Uhh.. Well... Uhh.. Yeah.. You see.."

_Ohh I'm gonna put him out of his misery. _Thought Tsunade.

"Naruto you were on a training mission, but it was a mission nonetheless.. Which means you get paid." Tsunade sported an evil grin as she drew a very stuffed toad shaped wallet from behind her back and held it in her hand for Naruto to contemplate. And as she expected Naruto's eyes bulged out and his jaw dropped.

"If you want it, say it." Tsunade grinned.

"Hinatachan'smygirlfriend." Hinata almost passed out when she heard this, and couldn't keep a huge smile off her face, even if she knew that he did it for the money.

"Here." Tsunade tossed him the wallet. Naruto caught it and hugged it. The two women could have sworn they saw his pupils turning to dollar signs for a split second.

"Now get out of here you two, go have some dinner. And I'll see you tomorrow Naruto, I'll send someone to tell you the exact time."

"Okay baachan!" Naruto answered enthusiastically. He quickly dressed himself in his jumpsuit and his vest, but let Hinata hang on to his katanas and his robe as he grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door, or the hole in the wall that was supposed to contain a door. He then stopped and looked back. Answering Tsunade's questioning look he simply stated:

"Like father like son, like master like pupil." And jumped out the window dragging Hinata behind him.

Tsunade stood there looking at the window with her eye twitching. _This kid is gonna be the end of me! It's another Jiraya! Wait.. Father? Ohh so he did find out._ Tsunade just shrugged and now looked at the door on the floor.

"SHIZUNEEEE!" She screamed as she once again sat behind her desk.

"Yes Tsunade-sama? Ohh! Call the contractor again I guess?"

"Yes that's right.. And he had better give me a discount! He overcharged me for last night's Jiraya hole in the wall."

"Yes Tsunade-sama!"

"WAIT!"

"Has Jiraya been cleared from the hospital yet?"

"I think so Tsunade-sama."

"Send for him, I have a job that requires his area of expertise. And bring me the strategical analysis that Shikamaru and his clan made, I need to have a look at his suggestions."

"Hai Hokage-sama!" Shizune quickly disappeared following her master's commands.

_Those two would be perfect..

* * *

_

Naruto and Hinata calmly walked though the streets of konoha, it was now dark and the streetlights were on, lighting the dark night and giving the whole atmosphere a romantic feel. Naruto let go of Hinata's hand when they got to the street, but still walked very closely to her, and she still had his robe and katanas on her.

"So Hinata, where do you want to eat?" Naruto asked in a low tone of voice, which seemed very unusual for him, but Naruto now thought of the night as a time for seclusion, quiet. He was here with Hinata, this moment was theirs, so there was no reason to speak loudly, these words were meant just for her, and she seemed to pick up on this, smiling. Oh how he loved it when she smiled.

"I.. I d-don't know, Naruto-kun. Ano.. Y-you don't have to take me o-out i-if you d-don't want to." She answered him, in a quiet tone as well.

Naruto still didn't get it why she was so unsure about herself, but decided he should try to help. He got closer to her and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. Hinata blushed only slightly, after spending a whole day with Naruto she was getting accustomed to his presence. The colder night air helped too. Now free from her embarassment she was able to trully enjoy his company.

"Hinata, you don't have to be that way around me. I don't care about what baachan says, I'm taking you out because I wanted to and not be-"

"HEY HINATAAA!" Screamed an enthusiastical Kiba as he turned a corner from another street in front of them, accompanied by Akamaru and Shino. Enthusiastic, that is, until he completed the turn and Naruto came into his field of vision, with his arm over Hinata, then his face fell.

Everyone stopped and looked at the stupid expression in Kiba's face, even his companion Akamaru. After a few seconds he seemed to jump out of his state of trance, and drew a Kunai.

"Hey who the fuck are you and what are you doing to Hinata?" Somehow, Kiba's brain rationalized seeing Hinata smiling like she hadn't in years, being held by a handsome man, while being dressed in a cloak that obviously belonged to him into a threat to her integrity, but the human brain sometimes does this sort of thing.

Unconsciously Naruto moved slightly more between Kiba and Hinata, at the same time protecting her from a threat and affirming his dominance while never taking his arm off her shoulders.

"Wow wow Kiba, calm down, no one's doing anything to Hinata." Said Naruto as he held his free hand open in front of him, with Hinata nodding behind him.

_**"This is gonna get ugly kit.."**_

"Why would you accuse a fellow shinobi of something like this so quickly.. Kiba?" Added Shino.

"Fellow shinobi? What the fuck are you talking about Shino?" Asked Kiba retaining his offensive stance.

"That man is obviously Naruto, my insects recognize his scent. And even if you didn't recognize him, the hitaiate should at least tell you he is not an enemy. Hinata seemed to be enjoying herself too. Why? Because she was smiling."

"Thanks.. Umm.. Shino?" Naruto was having a hard time recognizing the bug user. "I guess mutt-boy here hasn't changed a lot in three years.."

"Shut your mouth Naruto! And let go of her!" Kiba screamed as he threw the kunai at Naruto's chest, aiming for his heart.

It was traveling so fast that it would have impacted, Hinata thought, so she moved as fast as she could, and delivered a powerful juuken open palm to the kunai in mid air, disintegrating it. She was proud of herself, she had saved the love of her life, or so she thought because when she looked at her back, she noticed one katana was missing from it's sheath, and before she could ask herself why, she noticed Naruto was behind Kiba holding it to his neck.

_Shit, I didn't even see him move. _Thought Kiba.

Akamaru was confused, he thought that fox-boy was master's friend like bug-boy and lavender girl, but here they were fighting. He decided to stay out of it until master really needed him.

"Kiba." Growled Naruto. "I don't know what the fuck your problem is with me, but I'm warning you, back the fuck down or you're dead." Kiba couldn't see his face now, and it was a good thing, because his eyes were blood red. Yes, he couldn't see his face, but everyone there could feel the evil intent radiating from him. It made Akamaru shiver, it made Shino's bugs restless, it made Kiba sweat like a pig.. And it made Hinata want to hug those feelings away. After a few tense moments, Naruto felt a small hand squeezing his free one, and like that he calmed down. Hinata was there for him.

"You're lucky I don't report this to the Hokage or Ibiki would have a field day, what you just did here is considered treason. Bye Akamaru, Shino." Naruto said as he put down his katana, leaving Kiba very relieved, and re-sheathed it on Hinata's back.

"Se-see you later Shino." Hinata said as she gently petted Akamaru, and then she walked away with Naruto, holding his hand, only looking back to cast Kiba one last quick look of disappointment.

* * *

"Hmm that girl has potential.." Said the Toad Sannin to himself as he observed Naruto and Hinata walking away, while hiding in a nearby tree.

He scribbled something in his notebook as the remaining group walked away in silence in the opposite direction. When he was finished, he stored the notebook inside of his robes and laid back on the tree, thinking.

_Yes she has lots and lots of potential. _He looked up to the dark sky through the tree canopy. _I still think they're too young.. But circumstances make the rules._

He jumped down to the ground and started walking towards the Hokage Tower. _Even if they don't make a good team.. She would still be great research material._

Jiraya suddenly stopped, remembering the time when the tried to 'research' Kushina and took a rasengan to the face.

_Shit, why does he have to be so much like his father?_

He took a detour having the intention of buying some sake to share between him and Tsunade.

* * *

Shino and Kiba walked in silence with Akamaru trailing behind them. The bug user was never one to talk and normally it was Kiba that had the job of maintaining a conversation, albeit one full of references to how 'cool' he was. Shino would then reply drawing attention to his massive ego, and to heal the blows that Shino did, Kiba would hit on Hinata, sometimes putting an arm over her, or reaching for her hand, saying something like 'Hinata thinks I'm cool, don't you?', but she would always reject his advances, and then retract inwards, finding some excuse to get away from them.

While she was away Shino would be disappointed in Kiba, and explained to him that Hinata didn't like him in that way, and that by doing this he was just driving a wedge between them. Kiba would state uncomfortably that Shino didn't know what Hinata felt like and that she would eventually come around, but he would take the hint, for some time at least, and when Hinata came back they were friends, talking and laughing, or in Hinata's case smiling a bit. But then Kiba started hitting on Hinata again.

Since they had to be a team, in order to save the bonds they shared and to continue trusting in each other, they were stuck in the "repeat as necessary" setting, because since Kiba wasn't about to change anytime soon, the alternative would be disbanding the group. When Kurenai-sensei was with them, she tried to help, but never got very far with Kiba. Even she was certain that this was the lesser of two evils and decided to stay out of their personal relationships.

Eventually, the dreaded started happening, six months after Naruto leaving, Hinata started training alone for two reasons, as far as Shino saw it: For one, she was getting sick and tired of Kiba's advances that didn't let her concentrate, and, her desire to best herself, to impress Naruto, was getting so strong that she started training far harder than any one of them.

Sometimes they would find her collapsed from exhaustion in the training grounds and would take her to the hospital, but when they went to visit, she was already gone and training again. In the first few months they were always worried about her, they would always check up on her, they confronted her several times, but the only answer they got between panting breaths was 'This is why I'm here'.

When confronting her didn't work, they tried going behind her back: Fist they talked to Kurenai-sensei. She told them she had had a heart-to-heart with Hinata, but she wasn't backing down. After that they tried the Hokage, hopeful she would order Hinata to stop, but she just poured a bit of sake for herself and said 'I know of Hinata's admiration for my gaki, and if it causes her to try to better herself, that's good for her, for her clan and for the village. I will not intervene until her life is in danger'.

Eventually they decided on their last resort: talking to Hiashi-sama, Hinata's father. After the tensest half hour spent waiting for the man in his office, he finally decided to concede them a few moments of his very busy life. When they finished pleading their case he stated 'If my..d_aughter.._is training herself to death, I am glad. The Hyuuga have no use for weaklings.' with this he got up, walked out of the room and let them show themselves out.

They would later find out that was the day Hinata effectively left the Hyuuga complex. According to Neji she never spent the night there anymore, she would only show up about once a week to leave her dirty clothes, take a shower, pack up some clean ones and them she would be gone again. No one had a clue where she stayed, or at least where she slept, but they would last see her training at night and the next morning there she would be again.

Eventually, since Hinata had proven she was able to take good care of herself and she was always well groomed, clean, when she wasn't training, of course, and appeared well fed they just let her be. After Neji informed them that every main branch member of the Hyuuga house had an expenses account filled with thousands upon thousands of ryu they could freely access when they turned thirteen they just threw their worries out the window.

The problem is.. They started drifting apart. They trusted each-other in battle, they had to if they were to stay alive, but they only saw Hinata on missions now, and even there things were starting to get uncomfortable. But now, what was making things so awkward between Shino and Kiba was that they both thought Kiba's outburst would signify the definite end to their team. Neither knew just how right they were.

So awkward that this time it was Akamaru that initiated the conversation with a loud bark.

"Whats wrong Akamaru?" Kiba said in a monochordic tone and stopped , looking back at his dog. Shino did the same.

A series of barks later Kiba turned to Shino and said:

"He's telling me to talk to you about what happened back there with 'fox-boy'." Despite feeling pretty down Kiba was able to chuckle at Akamaru's nickname for Naruto. "He doesn't even look like a damn fox."

"But the name fits. Why? Because he smells like one. I'm surprised you never noticed it Kiba, my insects did."

"Maybe he does, I never noticed it because I haven't really met any foxes, we Izunuka tent to.. _avoid_ them."

"Hmm." Shino decided to end the conversation there because he thought Kiba didn't really want to talk. He continued walking, but he soon stopped again.

"It's not fair." Kiba said in a low tone of voice.

"What's not fair Kiba?"

"Everything." Kiba looked down to the ground. "He blew his chance three years ago, he shouldn't be entitled to another."

Kiba raised his head again to look at the sunglasses of his friend Shino, where his eyes would be, and said something Shino never expected to hear from his mouth:

"This was supposed to be _my_ chance."

When he heard those words Shino remained emotionless, as always, but after a few moments of silence he did something he had never done before and thought he would never do. He put his arm over Kiba's shoulders in a friendly gesture and they resumed their walk in silence with a happy Akamaru trailing behind.

* * *

Hey guise, sorry for the long wait.

Quick update: Shit happens, and life kinda got in the way of this fic. I refuse to let it die, but I am low on several things as of late, and unfortunately those things include time and money. On top of that, my beta hasn't been answering me, she must be as busy as I am, so I just let this fic be for a while. I have every chapter finished up to and including chapter eight and am now starting work on number nine, but without a beta, things are harder.  
When Caeli returns, as I hope she will, I am sure she will beta this chapter. I will post an updated version then.  
I will have a larger, more complete update posted on the A/N/Disclaimer chapter, as I have been doing.  
Meanwhile, if someone could find me an calculus ebook with exercises on integration complete with solutions, I would thank you very much (maybe even with some insights about what is going to happen next on the fic), contact me by PM for this.

Now for my comments on this chapter: This one wasn't especially hard to write, that last flashbacky scene with Kiba and Shino just wrote itself. Compared to the others this one has a lot of plot development. Why is Naruto's seal broken? What exactly happened to Hinata? What do the Nara have to do with the story? Who the hell is this monk everybody's been mentioning?  
All this and more in the next installments of Our Purpose.

Don't forget to tell me what you think: review people!


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